Does Caffeine Affect Weight Loss?

Caffeine is the most consumed drug on the planet, with approximately 90% of American adults consuming it daily. It is a stimulant of the body’s nervous system and can promote focus, wakefulness, and thinking speed in a person. Caffeine is also a natural appetite suppressant, helping to curb the sensations of hunger that may lead to over-eating. Effects of caffeine begin to occur within one hour and tend to subside after five for most patients.

Where is Caffeine Found?

There are a large number of common beverages that have some amount of caffeine in them, including coffee, soda, and tea. Chocolate also has a small amount in it. The average person consumes approximately 500mg of caffeine (2 to 3 cups of coffee) a day.

Caffeine and the Metabolism

A large amount of weight-loss products include caffeine, which helps weight loss by acting as a stimulant for the body to increase a person’s energy levels and by acting as an appetite suppressant. Caffeine also helps to cause increased thermogenesis in the body, stimulating energy generation through the digestion of food. While this will assist in burning calories for an individual, significant thermogenesis from caffeine will likely burn no more than 100 extra calories a day.

Caffeine and Exercise

There are a number of patients who believe that ingesting caffeine prior to working out can complement the exercise, boosting weight loss. While this may seem true at first glance, caffeine will not actually improve the weight lost through exercise.

What may potentially happen is that an individual will have some amount of caffeine, such as an energy drink, prior to their exercise. They will potentially have more energy to spend on the actual act of exercising, theoretically allowing them to go for longer than normal and at a higher intensity.

Thus, some people may think that caffeine prior to a workout improves the effect of the workout. In reality, the improvement comes from extra exercise performed during the routine. Caffeine simply provides a little extra energy to use during the workout.

Potential Complications of Caffeine

While caffeine can stimulate the mind and provide brief spurts of energy, the over-all effects of caffeine on weight loss are minor. In fact, there are a number of potential complications that may arise if too much caffeine is taken daily. Caffeine related complications include insomnia, nausea, a potential increase in blood pressure, and may disturb normal sleeping patterns. It takes most people about a week to become accustomed to sleeping with caffeine in their system.

Caffeine Acting as a Diuretic

If caffeine is consumed after not being in the body for the previous days, the body undergoes a slight diuretic effect. This promotes a brief, mild increase in the output of urine for the following few days. It takes approximately 2-3 cups of coffee to provide the required amount of caffeine to achieve this effect.

With the expulsion of this extra urine, the body loses a pound or two of pure water weight. This has led to some people thinking caffeine provides an immediate reduction of weight despite the fact that stored fact is unaffected by this process.

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